It took a matter of seconds to register the horror before me.

I was 17 at the time and standing on the Bear River bridge on Highway 65 between Wheatland and Sheridan.

It was Dec. 23, 1973.

The CHP officer in charge of the accident scene knew I worked for the Lincoln News Messenger and Roseville Press-Tribune.

He just asked that I show respect.

There was never a doubt that would be the case.

The newspapers had a policy of never showing parts of body in accident photos.

It’s a policy that, unfortunately, not all media follows today and certainly not a lot of people that post on social media.

I ended up shooting photos of volunteer firefighters working to extract two pre-teen kids from the back seat of a two-door sedan where there were also wrapped Christmas presents.

I did not shoot pictures with the kids in them.

At one point, a bright yellow tarp that had been put in place to allow firefighters to use the Jaws of Life in close proximity to the two kids was lifted for a second.

In doing so, a second tarp slipped.

A CHP officer quickly moved in and put  the second tarp back in place

It was covering the crumpled bodies of their dead parents.

They were visible for a mere seconds before the tarp was secured.

A minute later, rescue crews continued the hellish job of extracting the parents so they could reach the kids in the back seat.

Meanwhile, the driver of the vehicle that slammed into him head on was complaining about not getting enough medical attention.

It turned out, he was not under the influence.

He made a choice to pass on a double yellow line on a two-lane bridge.

Even though it was illegal to pass, a witness shared if the driver had waited three seconds or so  before pulling into the opposite lane, the car the firefighters were working on would have passed by without getting hit.

Three seconds could have changed everything for that family.

Three seconds is also the typical time that lapses between traffic signals turning red in one direction and them turning green for cross traffic.

That is on top of the 3 to 6 second duration for the yellow signal. The lower end is for where speed limits are close to 25 mph. The upper end is for speed limits approaching 55 mph.

The exact time yellow lights stay on in California is determined by a set of factors and how they fit into the intersection where signals are placed.

There is no attempt to entrap.

There is no Manteca Police motorcycle officer hiding behind a billboard.

Instead, there are large poles with radar and camera equipment mounted in plain view.

There are signs with the likeness of a signal and have bold letters spelling out “Photo Enforced” as you approach an intersection with red light cameras.

Manteca — at the suggestion of Councilman Mike Mortowit — went a step further and placed signs on traffic signals near the cross arm so they’d be highly visible advising motorists of the $490 hit they could take.

What happens if you are driving is up to you.

It can determine whether you will be out $490 at select intersections in Manteca plus face higher insurance premiums depending on your driving record.

Manteca issued 592 tickets for red light running in July.

Red light running is at epidemic levels in Manteca given we are rapidly closing in on — between city and Caltrans —  90 intersections with signals and only five have red light cameras.

How we drive is something we can control.

Many of us make decisions, that basically saves us just seconds, that make the streets less safe for everyone.

Red light running accounts for 20 percent of roughly 1,000 traffic collisions a year in Manteca.

Right up there are T-bone collisions caused by left turn movements.

It is why the median and wrought iron fencing is going up on North Main Street.

The best way to reduce such collisions is to reduce the ability to turn left wherever one wishes on or off a heavily traveled four-lane arterial.

Yes, it adds time for you to go from Point A to Point B.

But the opposite of saving time by ignoring traffic laws and such is what ends up getting people killed, maimed, and out of pocket thousands of dollars even in a moderate collision.

Name the poison: Texting and driving, not paying attention, tailgating, rolling through stop signs, or handling the wheel as if you are auditioning to be the stunt driver for the remake of Starsky & Hutch.

Those are what cause traffic collisions that rarely qualify to be called accidents.

The streets of Manteca, to borrow an apt description former Mayor Ben Cantu used, are still channeling the “wild west.”

It is why the City Council — besides deploying street lumps, roundabouts, red light cameras and such — still needs to find a way to pump up the five officer traffic enforcement unit.

It’s the same number Manteca had 30,000 less ppeople ago in the year 2010.

Even with recent efforts using passive speed control strategies and high tech enforcement efforts, it seems like a free for all on city streets.

It’s not nonstop mayhem but it needs to be made safer.

That said, you have to wonder sometime whether that is an elusive goal.

Manteca Police during the April grace period for the red-light camera on Main Street at Northgate Drive recorded a driver blowing through a red light at 84 mph.

They did not receive a red light running ticket due to the grace period. And even if it wasn’t, the cameras can’t be used to snare speeders.

Besides, people keep coming up with new ways to jeopardize the safety of others.

Last Friday, I entered the Yosemite intersection driving westbound on Center Street a second or two after it turned yellow. I cleared it before it turned red.

That would not have met the criteria for being issued a red light ticket.

Nor would the driver who had been previously behind me that passed through the intersection on my right the same time I did have qualified for a red light running ticket.

The problem is, he did so by speeding up and going straight thru in the right turn lane. He then cut back in front of me to avoid hitting a parked car.

Less than a minute later, he made the same maneuver around a car as it approached Elm Street where there is no right turn lane.

I eventually passed him after he pulled up to the Fairway Estates apartments where he parked his car then  nonchalantly walked away from his car.

There was “no fire”, or no apparent emergency, that could be used as a lame excuse to even remotely justify what he did.

To borrow from Cantu’s vernacular, Manteca has more than its fair share of “outlaw drivers” who need to suffer the consequences, financial and otherwise, of their chaotic and uncivilized driving.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com